Dead Birds Seized by Border Control at Dulles Airport, Authorities Say

This ain’t how birds like to fly.

A flock of dead birds was found inside a sealed package during a customs check at Dulles International Airport, authorities said Monday.

Specialists made the foul discovery Jan. 27 while searching the luggage of a traveler who arrived at the Virginia airport from Beijing, according to Customs and Border Protection.

The purple package, adorned with cartoon cats, was stuffed with lifeless, shriveled feathered creatures of unknown origin, officials said.

The passenger said the little flyers were pet food, according to the border control. But entry of the baseball-sized birds into the U.S. was prohibited due to concerns about the rare bird flu.

Casey Durst, director of field operations for CBP’s office in Baltimore, said in a news release that “unprocessed birds pose a potentially significant disease threat to our nation’s poultry industries and more alarmingly to our citizens.”

The corpses of the aerial animals were torched, authorities said.

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